


Sunday Candy

by zefrumiousbandersnatch



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2018-10-29 20:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10861194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zefrumiousbandersnatch/pseuds/zefrumiousbandersnatch
Summary: The recently elected mayor of Metropolis grapples with turbulent political landscapes and his secret feelings for his married best friend; the not-widowed Queen of Media helps her grieving son heal by taking a leaf from Mary Berry's book; and an astronaut returns from heroic space exploits to find love in a reluctant CEO.No powers. No evil families.Three interconnected stories told in three parts.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Have some fluff.

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. [...] When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.

\- Love Actually

 

\--

 

**Lex, Clark, and Lois**

“Lena Luthor, come out, come out, wherever you are,” Lex singsongs as he slowly creeps towards the library. He has his back to the wall, ready to take aim at a moment’s notice. He hears something and smiles, moving more urgently towards the door.

“Come on, kid,” he chides. “You can’t hide forever.”

He kicks the library door open and throws his gun up.

“Surrender!” He yells.

The empty library looks at him, echoing his threats. He lowers his gun and leans forward to look around the library.

“Never!”

By the time he turns and aims his gun, it’s too late. He’s attacked by a barrage of Styrofoam bullets. Several hit his face and he throws his hands up in defense, backing into the library.

“Rule number one is not the face!” He calls out as he shields his face. “Ow! My eye!”

Lena scoffs and holds her Nerf machine gun with two hands. She continues her merciless assault.

“That rule didn’t apply when you backed me into the pool.”

“I was twelve!”

“I couldn’t swim!”

“How is that my fault?”

“LENA LUTHOR!”

Lena drops her gun in surprise. Lex takes the opportunity to shoot his own significantly smaller Nerf gun, hitting his sister square in the chest.

“ALEXANDER!”

He throws his hands up. Both of them look sheepish, like a pair of children being scolded by their mother. Which is exactly what’s happening.

“Really?” Their mom sighs from the first floor, looking up at them with a hint of a smile on her face. “The incumbent Mayor of Metropolis and the newly minted CEO of LuthorCorp. Where did I go wrong?”

“She started it!”

“He started it!”

They both say in unison, pointing to the each other.

Hands on her hips and eyebrow raised, their mother shakes her head and laughs.

“Come on then,” She waves them down. “Clark is hell-bent on giving a speech and Lois says he’s been practicing in front of a mirror for days.”

“Oh boy,” Lex says, slinging his arm over Lena’s shoulders. “This I’ve got to see.”

-

“Lex and I met in college,” Clark starts. He’s holding a cold beer in his hands, standing at the end of the tent. He looks at the crowd around him, mostly close friends and the Luthors, celebrating Lex’s unprecedented landslide victory. Everyone stops eating and looks at him. “I accidentally set a bag of popcorn on fire in the microwave—”

“How is that even possible?” Lois calls out with a teasing smile.

“Shh,” Clark replies, earning laughs from the small group. “Anyway. My dorm started filling with smoke and the guy from across the hall ran in and saved the day.”

He clears his throat.

“That’s Lex Luthor in a nutshell. And I’m sure if you were paying attention at all during this election campaign, you know almost everything there is to know about Lex. He’s faced challenge after challenge—Lillian dying when he was young, his own personal illness, and, most recently, the passing of Lionel, arguably one of the greatest men I’ve ever known.”

There are nods and silent smiles. Some voices murmur ‘hear, hear’ and Lex raises his beer in agreement.

“And he’s come out stronger and wiser every single time,” Clark continues. “He has a track record of putting others before him and I am hopeful for our city’s future, knowing it’s in his capable hands. Thank you, Diana, for raising a great man I am proud to call my friend and brother.”

He raises his beer and flashes Lex a bright smile.

“To Lex Luthor and to the future of Metropolis. Cheers, everyone!”

-

“That was quite the speech Smallville,” Lex beams, clapping Clark on the back. He hugs Lois tightly.

“Trust me, it took a lot of practice,” Lois keys him in, looking at Clark with a raised eyebrow. “Admirable in his determination, like when he agreed to go up the mountain with us having never skied before.”

Lex guffaws.

“Well, he was determined to impress you,” Lex reminds her. “I tried talking him off the ledge, maybe start with something less life threatening like tennis or bowling.”

“Oh, he did impress me,” Lois counters. “I don’t think I’ve seen someone fall that many times.”

“Okay, okay,” Clark puts his hands up, the tips of his ears turning red. “We get it. Not my best idea. I’m sorry I’m not as good at getting women to like me like this guy over here.”

Lois and Lex laugh. Lois leans in and hugs Clark, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“You got your girl in the end,” She says, looking up at him lovingly. Clark smiles a dimpled smile at her.

“And I got enough videos for blackmail to last a lifetime,” Lex adds, breaking the moment.

Lois excuses herself to get more water. Lex brings his beer bottle up to his mouth, watching Clark discreetly as he watches Lois walk away.

“Say, where’s the hero of the hour? I want to take a picture with that famous cousin of yours.”

“She’s over by the food,” Clark says, craning his head to look. “Well, she was. Huh. Where did she go?”

“Who are you looking for?” Lois asks, standing between them.

“Kara,” Clark supplies. Lois grins.

“Supergirl?”

Lex raises an eyebrow and Lois laughs. Clark just shakes his head.

“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Clark says, eyes wandering around for his cousin. “I don’t know where she went, but we’ll find her before the day is over.”

-

The sun is setting by the time the last of their guests leave the Luthor estate. Diana hugs Lois and Clark, thanking them for all of their help during the campaign. She makes her way to the grand staircase, stopping to ask Lex if he’s seen his sister.

“I’m sure she’s here somewhere,” Lex calls out after her. He turns to the pair in front of him. “I’ll walk you guys to your car.”

He shrugs on his coat and puts his hands in his pockets, trailing after Lois and Clark. It’s a nice and quiet evening, punctuated by the orange glow of the sky. They stop right by Clark’s car.

“Thank you again,” Lex says, “for all you two have done. This wouldn’t have happened without either of you.”

Clark flashes his boyish grin and throws an arm over his shoulder. Lois sighs with mock humility and loops an arm around his. Lex smiles, sandwiched between the two of them.

“I know I’m great,” Lois chides, “but you can say it again.”

Lex shakes his head and looks out at the setting sun. Clark breaks his reverie.

“Hey, Lex? There’s something we want to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“We, uh,” Clark trails off, looking at Lois with uncertainty.

Lex laughs and looks at Clark and then Lois.

“Well, out with it.”

After a moment, Lois sighs loudly and throws Clark a dirty look. She pulls away from Lex and turns to face him fully.

“Oh, for goodness sake,” she says exasperatedly. “I’m pregnant and we’d like for you to be the godfather.”

Silence.

Clark waits with bated breath. He leans over and looks at Lex.

“Lex?”

Lois frowns.

“I think we broke him,” She mumbles, waving her hand in front of his face.

“Oh my god!” Lex exclaims, breaking out his stupor. He hugs Lois and lifts her from the ground. Lois lets out a surprised yelp. After setting her down, Lex turns to give Clark a bear hug. He pulls away and holds him by the shoulders. “That’s amazing. You two are having a baby! Of course, I would be honored!”

“Thank you,” Clark lets out a breath of relief.

“No,” Lex shakes his head. Keeping an arm around Clark’s shoulder, he pulls Lois in for a hug. “Thank you! I feel like it was just yesterday that I helped this guy with his outfit for your first date.”

“There’s nobody else I would trust more with our child,” Lois tells him with a smile.

-

“There you are! I’m heading back to my apartment—” Lena stops mid-sentence when she walks into the library. Lex is sitting in their father’s chair by the fire, glass of scotch in one hand and eyes trained on the fire.

“Is everything alright?” She asks, sitting on the ottoman and leaning forward in an attempt to catch his eyes.

“Of course,” Lex says quietly, looking away and swirling his scotch in an attempt to lie to the one person in the world who can see right through him. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Lena eyes him for a minute. She sighs and frowns.

“If you say so,” She rises and leans forward to kiss him on the forehead.

“Go to bed,” She chastises him. “Wouldn’t do well to have the incumbent Mayor of Metropolis be seen with bags under his eyes.”

“Yes, mom,” He teases. He eyes the jacket around her shoulders. “Have a good night, Lena. Nice jacket”

“Good night, Lex,” Lena responds, ignoring him and closing the door behind her.

Lex looks at the closed door for a few minutes before returning his attention to the creased picture in his hand: Clark looking at the camera, all bright smiles and windswept hair, with his arm around Lex’s shoulders; and Lex looking at Clark like he hung the stars in the night sky.

 

 

**Cat, Carter and Winn**

 

_“Supergirl? Really? Why couldn’t it have been Superwoman?”_

Cat Grant tuts, pouring some juice into a glass. She looks at the Bluetooth speaker on her counter.

“And what, pray tell, is so bad about ‘girl’?” She chastises her once intern. “I’m a girl. And the queen of media. And powerful and rich and hot and smart. If you perceive the term ‘Supergirl’ as anything less than excellent—isn’t the problem you?”

_“I guess you have a point.”_

Cat scoffs.

“Of course I do,” She tells her. “Need I remind you, Kara Danvers, of the other ‘girls’ who helped you on this journey of yours?  Was it not in my office where you met Sally Ride while I interviewed her?”

 _“Yes, Miss Grant,”_ Kara sighs through the speaker.

“Speaking of interviews,” Cat starts, shifting gears. “I expect an exclusive interview upon your return to National City. Don’t even think about saying a peep to your cousin’s wife.”

Kara laughs.

“It’s only makes sense,” Cat continues. “You first considered becoming an astronaut while working at CatCo after all. How poetic would it be to grace our cover over a decade later, as the hero who saved her ISS crew members from imminent death?”

 _“That’s a little dramatic,”_ Kara counters.

 _“Turn left on Oheka Drive,”_ chirps an automated GPS voice through the speakers.

“You can navigate the stars but you need a GPS to direct you on land?” Cat teases.

 _“This is my first time going to the Luthor Estate,”_ Kara says defensively.

“Oh, rubbing elbows with the Luthors now?” Cat raises an eyebrow.

 _“It’s just a small barbecue. Lex won the Metropolis mayoral election and Clark asked me to go,”_ Kara responds. Cat hears the sound of an engine powering down. _“And I’m here.”_

Cat opens her mouth but Kara beats her to it.

 _“I will give you a call when I’m back in National City,”_ a car door opens. _“And Cat? I’m sorry for your loss. I hope Carter is okay.”_

Cat inhales deeply, looking out the window and crossing her arms.

“There was nothing to lose.”

_“Cat.”_

“Well,” Cat straightens her back. “Off you go to socialize with the upper echelons of society. I have things to do, places to go, people to see.”

Kara sighs.

_“Bye, Miss Grant.”_

“Farewell,” Cat says, pressing on the end call button.

She nods to herself and walks up the stairs. Pausing in front of her son’s room, she lifts a hand to knock on the door. She hesitates, almost walks away, before nodding to herself and trying again.

“Carter?” She calls out. “Breakfast is ready. I made your favorite, Belgian waffles with PB&J.”

“I’m not hungry,” Is the quiet response she gets. Cat frowns. It’s futile at this point.

“Alright,” Cat sighs. “I’m going to work now. Your nanny can warm the food for you when you’re ready.”

She doesn’t get a reply.

“I’ll see you tonight,” She says, walking away.

-

_‘Joe Morgan, CatCo Media CEO Cat Grant’s ex-husband, dies at age—’_

_‘—unexpected death. Leaving behind son, Carter Grant—’_

_‘—radio silence from the Queen of Media—’_

Cat turns off the television, dissatisfied with every channel she selects. She flips open her laptop and sighs. It’s been several hours since she got in and she’s been unable to accomplish anything for the day, beyond snapping at her most recent assistant and anyone else on her warpath.

Leaning back, she checks her phone for a reply from her son. Nothing.

She grabs her glass for a drink and sees that it is empty. Her personal refrigerator is also devoid of water bottles. Pinching the bridge of nose, Cat Grant gets calls for her assistant.

“Siobhan?” She calls into the intercom and frowns at the lack of a response. Looking up, she sees the desk is empty.

“For crying out loud,” She mutters to herself.

Getting up, she walks over to the employee break room. The employees scamper out as soon as she enters and Cat rolls her eyes. She looks around, never having been in the room before. It doesn’t take long for her to spot the bottles of Fiji water. She stops on her way back, spotting the platter of superhero themed cupcakes someone had obviously brought in from home.

Cat looks around, making sure no one is nearby to witness anything incriminating. She eyes the cupcakes with distrust but even she can’t deny the perfection in the icing. There are empty wrappers from previously consumed cupcakes and no one has dropped dead in her office (at least, to her knowledge) so she assumes these are not poisoned. She loathes to feed Carter processed sugar, but she’s sure the Ironman cupcakes will at least entice him to eat _something._

Making up her mind, she grabs the last two cupcakes and heads back to her office.

-

“Mom? Why are you holding that?” Carter says with a questioning look on his young face, eyeing the cupcakes in Cat’s hands. He’s sitting quietly by the pool, his feet dangling in the water. He looks so tired and downcast for someone his age. It breaks her heart, seeing him so sad.

She smiles and waves the cupcakes.

“Superhero cupcakes,” She says cheerily, holding back the nausea from the fake sugary smell. “An employee brought them in.”

Carter eyes them quietly, licking his lips ever so discreetly.

“Do you want one? I’ll eat the other with you,” Cat tells him, gingerly sitting on the ground next to him.

Her son laughs.

“Mom,” He says with a disbelieving tone. “You don’t eat cupcakes.”

Cat shrugs.

“I will if you promise to eat the other one,” She notes. “And then maybe you can split some of the oven baked pizza I got for us.”

Carter looks at her, seemingly pondering her proposition. After a beat, he smiles.

“Well, the Ironman cupcake looks really cool…”

-

“Dad and I used to watch this really awesome show called the Great British Bake Off,” Carter says quietly, finishing his second slice of pizza and putting his plate on the coffee table. He leans back into the couch and snuggles next to Cat. “It’s a baking competition.”

“Do you want to watch it now?” Cat asks, tucking her feet and throwing her arm over his shoulders.

“No.”

“Oh,” Cat deflates a little.

“But I was thinking,” Carter starts, pulling away and looking at her. “What if you made a special American version? It would be so cool.”

Cat looks at him and seriously ponders his suggestion.

“You can make it a celebrity version or something,” He goes on, clearly having given this a lot of thought. “Mom, maybe you can be a contestant too!”

If her eyes were any bigger, they would pop out of their sockets.

“Me?” She says incredulously, an eyebrow arching as high as they can go. “Carter, darling, you know I can’t bake.”

“That’s okay,” He tells her with a bright smile. He leans in, like he’s about to tell her a big secret. “You and I can learn together. We can practice baking!”

It’s not a bad business venture, Cat thinks to herself. She has heard of the show and its success across the pond. The premise is simple enough and the celebrity aspect will most certainly pull interest with American viewers.

She looks back at Carter. He looks so hopeful and sure of his proposal, bright eyes looking at her expectantly. This is the happiest she’s seen him since his father died.

“Well, let’s get to it,” She says with a smile. Carter’s face breaks into a huge grin and he jumps to give her a big hug.

-

“Sit,” Cat says with a commanding tone. She stares down the employee she summoned in her office, who gulps and shakily takes the seat across from her desk.

“I have it on good authority you brought in those cupcakes yesterday,” She says with a raised eyebrow. “Winslow, is it?”

“It’s Winn,” He corrects her, hastily adding “Miss Grant” at the expression on her face. He refuses to meet her eyes.

Cat appraises him. She can’t tell if he’s about to cry or wet his pants. He sneaks a look and panics.

“I swear they’re organic, Miss Grant!” He starts explaining, pleading for what, Cat doesn’t know. “I’ll never do it again. Please don’t fire me.”

“Winslow,” She says with a sigh. “If you would stop groveling for a minute, it’s giving me a headache.”

She pauses and he closes his mouth, putting his pleading hands down.

“It pains me to say this, but I’m in need of your assistance,” She continues.

“With your computer?” He asks and Cat has to remind herself that Siobhan said something about IT or computers.

“No,” Cat supplies. “With baking.”

 

 

**Kara and Lena**

 

“That was a rather touching speech,” Lena says slowly, clapping her hands. “In typical Clark Kent fashion: mildly awkward delivery but genuine content.”

“He wouldn’t be Clark otherwise,” Lex says with a small smile, eyeing Clark from the back of the tent where they are. Clark gives him a small nod and Lena can see the faint blush on his face. She nudges him.

“Well, go on and say hi.”

“Try not to get in trouble,” He jokes, kissing the crown of her head.

Lena watches him make his way toward Lois and Clark. She takes a sip, quietly observing the interaction on the other side of the tent. A gust of wind passes and Lena frowns. She should not be feeling a breeze down there.

Venturing a look over her shoulder and pulling at the hem of her dress, Lena gasps loudly at what she finds. Her dress is torn and anyone can most certainly see her undergarments.

Discreetly, she backs into the buffet table.

“You know,” A voice startles her. “I’m all for sitting on tables, but you’re sort of blocking the potstickers.”

Lena turns quickly and is met with bright blue eyes. She knits her eyebrows, the face familiar but she can’t seem to place from where.

“You…” Lena trails off.

“Kara Danvers,” The other woman reaches out a hand to shake. The recognition immediately clicks.

“Oh my goodness,” Lena immediately leans forward and hugs her. “Kara! I didn’t recognize you without the glasses!”

Kara laughs.

“Or the pigtails,” Lena continues. She pulls away and looks at Kara. “It’s been years since we last saw each other.”

“Seventeen years,” Kara supplies. “I didn’t recognize you at first, if it makes you feel better.”

One of her brother’s staffers comes over for food and Lena almost jumps. She yanks Kara over to her and they almost topple over at the sudden shift.

“Uh, Lena,” Kara says hesitantly.

“I need your help,” Lena tells her. “Can you come with me? I ripped my dress and I need to go to my room and change.”

She turns slightly to show her dress and it’s not good, if Kara’s skyrocketing eyebrows (and matching blush) are anything to go by. Kara immediately averts her eyes and Lena turns around. Kara moves closer and puts a hesitant hand on her lower back.

“Sounds like a job for Supergirl,” Kara winks and nods towards the manor. “Lead the way.”

-

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” Kara asks from her bedroom.

“Let’s just say that in an overzealous attempt to defend my crown as the better Luthor in Nerf gun warfare, I might have scaled a banister,” Lena explains, sticking her head out from the bathroom. She watches as Kara inspects the gadgets and books adorning her childhood bedroom. She picks up a miniature spaceship Lena made with welded metal back in high school.

“My dress must’ve gotten caught when I jumped to ambush Lex,” Lena says sheepishly, walking over with her unzipped dress.

“I sure hope you won,” Kara gives her a headshake. “Otherwise, this story just went from awesome to sad.”

Lena turns and offers up the zipper with a shy ‘please?’

“Of course I did,” She scoffs, mildly offended. Kara gives her a tap when she finishes zipping her up and Lena turns. She appraises Kara for the first time, now that her dress malfunction is a thing of the past. Kara gives her a smile before looking away, clearly unable to handle Lena’s intense gaze.

“Look at you,” Lena says. Kara looks back up at her and laughs.

“What?”

“All I remember is the scrawny ten-year-old with knobby knees and big glasses. And now you’re an international hero,” Lena says incredulously. “Ticker tape parade, commemorative stamps, there’s talk of naming libraries after you—”

“I’m told that’s when you know you’ve made it,” Kara teases. “That and when strangers ask you to kiss their babies.”

Lena laughs out loud. She walks to the door, intent on heading back to the party, but stops when she notices that Kara is not following her. She sees Kara stood by one of her bedroom windows quietly watching the festivities below.

“Do you mind if we don’t head back just yet?” Kara asks, hanging her head back to look at Lena. 

“Of course,” Lena says. She nods her head towards the door. “Follow me. I think I know a place you’ll appreciate.”

-

“Holy canoli,” Kara breathes out, eyes wide with wonder. “What is this place?”

Lena stays behind and laughs as Kara all but runs into the room. She assesses almost every machine she passes by, unsure of which one to play with first. When she squeals and jumps with joy, Lena walks over to see what she’s pointing to.

“This was my favorite!” Kara all but yells, pointing to the Star Wars pinball machine. “How do you have this? How do you have an entire arcade in here?”

“Dad built this for us,” Lena says fondly, looking around the room and smiling at the memories. She runs her hands down the edge of the pinball machine reverently, remembering the rare moments when her dad was home and he’d put her on his shoulders so she could watch the ball bounce around the machine.

When she snaps out of her reverie, she sees Kara looking at her with a soft expression on her face. She smiles and nudges Lena.

“Let’s see the competitive Luthor streak that leaves no dress undamaged.”

Lena’s face breaks out into a grin. She winks, causing Kara to lose her bravado.

“You would want to see that happen again, wouldn't you?”

Kara flounders, mouth opening and closing.

“No!” She half-yells. “That would be disrespectful.”

Lena laughs and moves to the foosball table.

-

“So,” Lena stops, taking another sip of her wine. She watches as Kara looks up, cheeks full of kebabs and a pepper sticking out of her mouth.

“Hrnh?”

Lena smiles to herself and shakes her head. After a rather competitive bout of foosball, air hockey, and an assortment of arcade games, Kara’s hunger made its presence known via her loud grumbling stomach. Now, they’re tucked away in a corner of the large kitchen, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the catering crew. The chef, at first aghast at the amount of food Kara has already eaten, keeps eyeing them nervously now that he’s recognized who she is. Kara keeps telling him his cooking is out of this world, leaving the chef even more flustered than before.

“Your dreams came true. You became an astronaut,” Lena continues. “I remember you gushing about it. With your NASA t-shirt.”

“That I did.”

“I want to hear about the whole journey,” Lena urges her. Kara swallows a particularly large bite and downs a glass of water.

“That would take a long time,” She shrugs, hopping on the counter next to Lena.

“How about you give me an abbreviated version?” Lena leans forward, giving Kara a cheeky grin.

“Well,” Kara starts. “I will if you tell me about you first. All I remember is a bossy thirteen year old who was too cool and adult to talk to me.”

Lena laughs.

“I’m not familiar with being the one who is out-negotiated,” Lena tells her. Kara smiles.

“You learn a thing or two when NASA keeps insisting you can’t bring freeze dried pot stickers or pizza to space.”

Lena laughs again, handing Kara more food.

“Well,” Lena starts. “There’s not much to say. I went to school and studied engineering and astrophysics. And since dad was a stickler for ‘starting from the bottom,’ I started with LuthorCorp’s R&D Department.”

“Nerd,” Kara interjects. Lena shushes her.

“When dad passed, Lex took over as CEO.”

Lena stops at the hand on her arm and sees Kara’s sad smile. She gives her own small smile and quietly says it’s okay.

“Now we’re here,” She says after a beat. “My brother is the new mayor of Metropolis and I’ve been called to the majors.”

“Hot shot CEO at 30,” Kara finishes for her.

“God bless us all,” Lena says with a sigh. Kara nudges her shoulder.

“You’ll do great.”

Lena smiles, taking the plate of ceviche from the chef and handing it to Kara.

“I’m moving the headquarters to National City, to avoid any conflict of interest,” Lena explains. “And, I need a fresh start.”

Kara jolts, toasted bread with ceviche halfway to her mouth. She hurriedly puts the toast down.

“Are you serious?” Kara looks at her with a large grin. “I live in National City!”

“Well, then I can say I now have one friend in National City,” Lena teases. It doesn’t faze Kara.

“That you do,” She reassures her. “Although, I’m sure you’ll make lots of friends very quickly. You being all…you.”

Lena scrunches her face.

“…What does that even mean?”

Kara blushes. She opens her mouth to speak.

“Lena?”

They both look up at the sound and find Lena’s mom looking at the two of them with a quizzical brow.

“Mom,” Lena says.

“You two are missing out on all the fun,” Diana nods her head to the door with a smile. “And Lex has been badgering Clark about getting his picture taken with Miss Danvers.”

Kara hops off the counter and holds a hand out for Lena.

“After you, my lady,” Kara says. Lena takes her hand and gracefully slides off the counter.

“Thank you.” Lena feels her face warm up and she chalks it up to the warmth of the grill and the stove.

-

“Well,” Kara shoves her hands in her pockets. “Looks like it’s time to call it a night.”

Lena looks around and notices that all the guests are gone. They wandered off hours ago, walking through the maze garden and chatting about everything under the sun—from NSYNC to orbital projections. The temperature has dropped considerably since the sun set. Lena pulls Kara’s mission jacket closer around her shoulders. Kara had insisted on her taking it once she noticed Lena shivering.

“Did you drive with Clark and Lois?”

Kara shakes her head.

“Nah, I drove by myself,” She says. “Had to use a GPS to find this National Park.”

“I’m glad you’re putting your interstellar navigational skills to good use,” Lena teases.

“I’ll have you know, I got a gold star in map reading when I was in astronaut school,” Kara puffs her chest and looks at her indignantly. Lena merely laughs and fake-slaps her on the arm.

They slowly meander over to Kara’s car rental and Lena notes that even Clark’s old truck is gone when they arrive at the driveway.

“This is me,” Kara stops at the door, looking at Lena expectantly. It takes a second for Lena to understand.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lena starts shrugging the jacket off. “You need your jacket back.”

Kara holds a hand out and shakes her head.

“Keep it for now,” She says, halting Lena’s movements. “Give it back to me in National City.”

Lena pauses.

“Is this your way of making sure I talk to you again?” She teases, putting the jacket on fully now. The sleeves are a little long and the tips of her fingers barely peek out.

“Maybe,” Kara gives her a lopsided grin. She hops into her car and gives Lena a salute. She leans out of the open window. “See you around, Lena.”

Lena leans down and gives Kara a kiss on the cheek.

“See you around, Supergirl.”

 


	2. Two

**Lex, Clark, and Lois**

 

_‘…We will end the sanctuary cities that have resulted in so many needless deaths—’_

Lex puts the remote down, turning to his staff members. He sees Chloe, his chief of staff, hold her tablet close to her chest and take a deep breath to steady herself. The room is eerily silent and there are faces of trepidation.

Lex turns his attention back to the muted CatCo broadcast on the television. The fool who calls himself President continues to gesture incoherently during the press conference. The headline on the bottom ribbon reads clearly. And he sees a glimpse of calls for leaders of the targeted cities—like Metropolis—to respond in kind. He leans against his desk and crosses his arms, looking down at the framed pictures on his desk.

“You heard the President. The line has been drawn and it will not be an easy fight,” Lex starts, staring at the picture of his family at Lena’s graduation. “But, lest we forget where we came from, lest we forget who we are, it is a fight we must win.”

He straightens and looks at his staffers. He gives them a smile.

“We will fight in the streets. We will fight on Capitol Hill. We will fight in the board rooms and the class rooms. We will never give up. We made a promise to every citizen of Metropolis, legal or not, transgendered or not, and I intend on keeping that promise.”

Chloe sends him an encouraging nod.

“Why don’t we all take five and digest that rousing speech,” He says to lighten the mood. He receives a few laughs. “We’ll discuss the _how_ after lunch.”

People file out of his office and Lex moves to pour himself a glass of water. From the corner of his eye, he sees his secretary approach Chloe and whisper something. She cradles a phone against her chest.

Chloe’s eyes widen and she snaps her head up. Her panicked eyes find his in an instant.

“It’s Clark.”

-

Lex bursts through the doors of the emergency room, not minding the security detail struggling to keep up with him. His heart is beating erratically in his chest and the blood is thrumming in his ears. He turns a sharp corner and stops.

There, sitting in the waiting room with his face in his hands, is Clark.

“Clark,” Lex says softly, making his way to the empty seat next to him. “What—”

“It was a girl, Lex,” Clark’s voice is quiet. He looks up at Lex with tears in his eyes. “A girl.”

-

“Sir.”

Lex looks up from the proposal on illegal alien protection programs, his hand stilling with a highlighter. John, his head of security, waits patiently at the door of his home office in Gracie Mansion.

“Yes, John?” Lex asks, putting the folder down.

“Mr. Kent is in the foyer,” He says.

Lex gets up and nods. He hasn’t seen Clark since Lois miscarried a month ago. They both closed themselves off from their family and friends and Lex has been worried sick since.

“Clark!” Lex says as soon as he spots the man. His smile falls when he notices the duffel bag by Clark’s feet.

“Hey,” Clark gives him a weak wave. “Do you mind if I crash here for a bit?”

Lex shakes his head, hiding his disbelief.

“No,” He tells him. “Not at all.”

He gives Clark a big hug and feels his entire body sag against his.

“Thank you,” Clark says into his shoulder.

Lex pats him on the back and frowns.

“Don’t mention it,” He notes, pulling away and taking a good look at Clark for the first time.

There are dark bags under Clark’s eyes and a seemingly permanent frown on his face has taken the place of his boyish grin. His hair is tousled, as if a hand has been run through a few times. He looks tired and broken.

Lex throws an arm over his shoulder and picks up his bag.

“Let’s get you settled then.”

-

“How are you?” Lex pours himself more scotch and adds water to Clark’s glass. He knows better than to offer words of hope or encouragement. He’s been there before, at the pit of despair so deep and hopelessness so consuming—and he knows it’s not something to be overcome with sheer optimism.

“Okay,” Clark says quietly, eyes fixed on the floor. He is subconsciously spinning the ring on his finger, pulling it ever so slightly upward with each turn. A particularly strong twirl sends the ring flying off his finger. The ring rolls around the hardwood floor before coming to a stop against Lex’s boot.

Lex stares at the silver wedding band. 

“Lois is giving me space,” Clark starts, not even startled by the fallen ring. “She’s trying. But she’s also hurting. And I can’t…I can’t be that person for her right now. I just remember our baby girl every time I see her.”

Lex wordlessly hands him a glass of scotch. He puts his own glass down and walks back to the ring on the floor.

 “I’m a terrible husband,” Clark whispers, more to himself, and takes a sip of scotch. He coughs and Lex laughs a little. Clark is and always will be a beer guy. He picks up the ring and puts it in the palm of his hand.

“No, you’re not,” Lex muses. He walks over to Clark and holds out his hand. “You can’t be strong all the time. You both need time to heal.”

Clark looks from Lex to the ring on his outstretched hand.

“Although,” Lex says lightly. “I can’t say I have empirical data on marriage, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.”

Clark smiles and reaches out for the ring.

“Thanks, Lex,” Clark smiles at him. “You’ll just have to hurry up and get married then.”

Lex laughs. He watches as Clark puts on his wedding ring.

“Haven’t found the right person.”

-

“Yes, yes,” Lex says. “I know. I will be there, I promise.”

_“You said that last time.”_

“You can blame the President for that,” Lex smirks. “It’s not like you have time to miss me, what with all the time you’re spending with your gal pal.”

_“I hate you. Don’t call Kara my gal pal.”_

Lex laughs into the phone, waving at the staffers as he makes his way to his office. Lena continues to rattle on about her new side project and mentions Kara approximately four times in the span of a minute. He shakes his head at his sister’s denial.

_“…She mentioned what happened. How is Clark doing? How is Lois? I heard Lucy is staying with her.”_

He stands still outside his office, his hand hovering over the knob.

“He’s…he’s alright,” Lex finally says after a beat. “And she…”

He opens the door. And finds Lois in his office.

_“Lex?”_

Lois looks up from the picture frame in her hand to him. She looks even more exhausted than Clark.

“Listen, kiddo,” He says into the phone, closing the door behind him. “I’ll call you back.”

Without waiting for a response, he ends the call and puts his bag and phone down. Lex takes the two steps to reach Lois and engulfs her in an embrace. Lois holds the frame between them and pulls him close with his free hand. Her shoulders start shaking as the sobs start in earnest. He kisses her hair and holds her tight.

He doesn’t know how long they’ve been standing there when her sobs finally subside. Lex pulls away but holds her close, enough to see her red rimmed eyes.

“Hey,” he says quietly. Lois sniffles.

“I must look awful,” She says, reaching for a tissue to blow her nose. Lex makes a face.

“No more worse than usual,” he says, earning a soft slap on his arm.

Lois narrows her eyes and Lex laughs.

“You can’t hit me in this office,” Lex jokes. “I’m a big deal, you know.”

Lois rolls her eyes and moves to hand him a paper bag.

“You become mayor and suddenly you forget the little people...who have incriminating pictures of your 30th birthday.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Lex says, hand on his chest and a faux aghast expression on his face. Lois finally laughs.

“Just dropping off Clark’s migraine medication,” She starts, motioning to the paper bag. “And more contact lenses. It’s almost the end of the month.”

Lex looks at the paper bag in his hands.

“Lois…” He starts.

Lois lets out a sigh and Lex can see the moment she closes off herself once again. She places the picture frame in her hands face down on his desk and picks up her purse.

“Thank you for taking care of him, Lex,” She says, reaching out to squeeze his arm. “And me.”

“It’s nothing,” Lex tells her. “You are both very important to me.”

Lois smiles and gives him one more hug before heading for the door.  When Lex flips the frame on his desk, he sees it is the picture of the three of them at Lois and Clark’s wedding.

-

“Clark?”

“’m here,” Lex hears the slurred words when he enters the living room.

It’s dark, save for the dim lamp by the couch. He rounds the corner and sees Clark sprawled out on the couch, one foot on the floor. He doesn’t open his eyes but he continues to mumble incoherently.

A half empty bottle of whiskey sits on the coffee table. Lex sighs. He takes a blanket from the ottoman and throws it over Clark.

“Night,” Clark mumbles, turning to his side and curling into a ball.

“Good night, Clark,” Lex says, squatting down to brush some hair from Clark’s eyes.

 

 

**Cat, Carter, and Winn**

 

“Okay,” Winn rubs his hands together, looking at the spread of ingredients on the counter. “We’ll try a plain yellow cake. Simple enough.”

He thinks to their previous baking attempts and almost cringes. His initial picks are apparently too complicated, as evidenced by the number of eggs and sticks of butter they’ve wasted over the week. Winn feels guilty, with all the baby chicks that have sacrificed their lives only to be thrown in the trash after another one of Winn’s failed attempts at teaching Cat how to bake. They are one ruined cake away from him most likely losing his job.

He looks to his right and sees Cat inspecting the egg in her hands. She has a distrusting look on her face. She turns it over. And promptly drops it to the floor.

“There’s no way we can mess this up.”

-

“We messed it up,” Winn says with disbelief, batter dripping down his cheek. “We messed up a yellow cake.”

“The settings were incorrect!” Cat hissed at him as she picked out the batter from her hair. “I don’t understand why this is incredibly difficult. I’ve seen imbeciles do it. Hell, even that barefoot woman on television can handle it. And she apparently can’t even lace her shoelaces.”

Winn loses it. He can find a different job.

“It’s not!” He yells. “It’s not rocket science!”

Cat freezes, surprised by his outburst.

“You literally have to follow the instructions word for word,” Winn continues. “But no, you have to question everything I say.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Cat spits back defiantly, straightening out and placing her hands on her hips. “But maybe if you—”

“I’m done!” Winn hurriedly unplugs his KitchenAid mixer and yanks it to his chest, bowl still covered in what’s left of the batter. “I can’t do this. You need a miracle worker!”

He grabs his things and stalks out of the house.

-

“Mom?”

Cat looks at her son, wine glass in her hand.

“Yes, dear?”

“Where’s Winn?” Carter muses, digging into his macaroni and cheese. “Isn’t he supposed to be here for your lessons?”

She puts the wine glass down and takes a bite of her salmon.

“He won’t be coming anymore,” She says plainly, moving the kale around on her plate. “We’ve had a difference in opinion.”

“Mom.”

Carter’s tone surprises Cat. She looks at him and finds he’s put his fork down and crossed his arms. He raises an eyebrow at her and gives her a look so much like her own it startles her. It’s like looking at the mirror.

“What happened?”

Cat looks away from her son’s inquisitive look. She is equally proud and unnerved by it. She sighs.

“He may have not taken too kindly to my suggestions for improvement.”

“Mom.”

“I mean,” Cat gets defensive. “Is it my fault he can’t handle constructive criticism?”

“Mom!”

“Alright, alright,” Cat relents. “I might have been a little difficult. And frustrated.”

Carter snorts.

Cat’s lower lip drops and she gives her son an incredulous look.

“Excuse me?”

“Mom,” Carter says after he’s done laughing. “You should apologize. Winn was being nice to you. Maybe you can tell him why you’re frustrated.”

Cat scoffs. Apologize?

“Besides, how are you going to win the Great American Bake Off?”

Carter asks with a big smile and bright eyes. Cat feels a smile forming on her own face. Her smart boy. She comes over and gives him a hug.

“Mom?”

“Promise me you won’t grow up to quickly.”

-

There’s a knock. Followed by another.

Winn looks at his front door with distrust. He hasn’t moved since he got back from softball, plopping down face first into the couch. He’s told Kara a million times he doesn’t feel like celebrating their win with pie and ice cream, no matter how good the apple pie is. Or how progressively threatening Alex looks every time he declines.

Just looking at baked goods makes him sick to his stomach.

Another knock.

“Go away, Kara,” He yells out.

“Winslow, I advise you open this door if you want to keep your job.”

Winn bolts upright, falling off from the couch from the momentum. What? Cat Grant surely can’t be at his doorstep.

“…Miss Grant?”

“Winn.”

He gets up and slowly makes his way to the door. When he opens it, he finds Cat Grant standing there with large sunglasses, a grimace, and a cupcake.

“Finally,” She shoves the cupcake in his hand and struts past him to let herself into the apartment. Winn still looks bewildered at the door. He shakes his head and closes it behind him, turning to look at Cat. She’s taken her sunglasses off and is looking at him expectantly.

When he looks down at the cupcake with doubt, Cat scoffs.

“Don’t worry, it’s store bought,” She relents, seemingly reading his thoughts. “Kara said you like the overly sweet one from that store on 9th Avenue.”

“Is this a peace offering?” Winn asks slowly.

Cat rolls her eyes.

“Will you just eat the damn thing?” She huffs. “I was ordered to come here and apologize. So here I am.”

Winn laughs and takes a bite of the cupcake. He supposes this is the closest he’ll get to an actual apology from the Queen of Media herself.

“Look,” Cat says slowly. “This baking competition is a big deal to Carter. He hasn’t been this excited since…since his father died. I need to make this happen. And I need your help.”

Cat crosses her arms.

“I know I may have been a little difficult—”

“A little?”

Cat shoots him a warning look and Winn promptly shuts up.

“I’ve been _little_ difficult,” Cat reiterates. “But I don’t like following instructions without knowing why I have to remove the yolk or why I have to use baking soda only works with buttermilk and not regular milk—”

“Buttermilk is acidic,” Winn says simply. “Baking soda is a basic powder called sodium bicarbonate and it needs an acid to react with and form carbon dioxide. Plain milk isn’t acidic, which is why you need baking powder for that since it has powdered acid in the mix.”

“Oh,” Cat says, frowning and taking in the information.

“It’s all an exact science,” Winn continues, bringing up to cupcake for another bite. He freezes in realization. He looks back at Cat.

“Is that why you kept on questioning my instructions? Because you just wanted to know the reason why we have to do each step of the recipe precisely?”

“Well, yes,” Cat raises an eyebrow. “What did you think I was doing?”

Winn looks at her for a good minute before laughing.

“Oh my god,” he says.

-

“Okay,” Winn gestures to the six cookies in front of her. Cat is sits up straighter on the stool and adjusts her glasses. Next to her, Carter is happily eating the extra cookies he baked, rating them all on the judging criteria he came up with.

“This cookie is more cakey,” Winn points to the cookie in the middle. “That’s because I used more baking soda. It releases carbon dioxide when heated, which makes the cookie puff up.”

Cat nods, taking notes studiously.

“And this one is thicker,” he points to the one next to a thin, crispy cookie for comparison. “Because I threw the batter in the freezer for half an hour before baking. Why do you think that resulted in a thicker batter?”

Cat looks at the cookie and then back at him. She eyes the ingredient sheet he wrote on an index card next to it.

“Because…” Cat trails off. “The butter. The butter is the only thing on that list that will be affected by a short freezing time like that. Is that it? So the butter won’t spread as much?”

“That’s exactly it!” Winn says excitedly.

Huh, Cat thinks to herself.

“Good job, mom!” Carter beams at her, chocolate chips melted on his teeth.

-

Cat looks at the oven nervously, eyeing the timer in her hand. It’s been weeks of baking lessons and Winn has deemed her ready for the queen (she insists it’s the queen, not the king) of all baked goods: the chocolate soufflé.

“Is it ready yet?”

“Yeah, is it ready yet? I’m hungry.”

Cat straightens and gives the peanut gallery a stern look. Kara wavers but Carter just continues to hum and play with his knife and fork. They have been her patient test subjects for last few weeks. Between the negotiations and planning and advertising for the Great American Bake Off special and regular baking lessons with Winn, Cat has been worried about neglecting Carter.

But including her son in the baking lessons as a taste tester has been a great way to spend some quality time with him.

Kara, as the resident glutton and self-proclaimed expert in all things food, is here as a volunteer. She claims that soon it will be another three hundred and sixty-five days before she can have any substantially good food, so denying her would be a crime.

“Can you make the eclairs again?” Kara asks with a hopeful look on her face. “Those were delicious.”

“So was the baklava,” Carter agrees from his seat.

“It’s like having vultures in here,” Cat assesses. “You two are worse than Christian Bale the one time he had to starve himself for The Machinist.”

Winn, however, is uncharacteristically quiet at the end of the island. He’s playing with the baking spoons by quietly stacking and unstacking them. Cat is about to say something when the timer goes off.

“Oh,” Cat says nervously. She opens the oven and reaches in for the soufflé.

“I’ve got it,” Winn says quietly, offering to close the over door and turn off the oven.

Cat puts the soufflé in front of Kara and Carter and marvels at the excited looks on their faces. Kara tries to dig in with her fork but Cat quickly bats her hand away.

“Ow.”

“I slaved over this with the finesse and the attention to detail of a ballerina,” She says sharply, reaching for the serving spatula. “Please treat it with respect, you savage space alien.”

Kara smiles sheepishly.

“It’s not my fault I got used to eating food from freeze dried packets. I’ve had to tape my bread to the desk so it wouldn’t float away.”

Cat shivers at the thought and shakes her head. She takes a portion for Winn, for Carter, and for Kara. They all take a bite and Cat tries to hide her nervousness with an annoyed expression.

“I don’t have all day, you know,” Cat muses as her quiet audience ponders over the first bite.

“Oh my god,” Winn says first.

Cat prepares herself for the criticism.

“THIS IS THE BEST SOUFFLE I’VE EVER HAD!” Kara exclaims, startling everyone in the room.

“Kara, this is quite literally the only soufflé you’ve ever had,” Cat challenges.

“No mom,” Carter pipes in. “This is so good. Really good. Like, probably better than Mary Berry good.”

Cat blushes.

“Well, there’s no need for exaggeration.”

She’s thrown off kilter when Carter rushes to hug her.

“You did it mom!”

She hugs him back and pretends there is something in her eye when the tears start forming.

-

Winn leaves shortly after the successful taste test, casually letting Cat know he’s taking a weeklong vacation. He ruffles Carter’s hair and hugs Kara and Cat wonders what’s gotten into him as he walks out of the house.

“Can I take a slice for Lena? I’m sure she’ll like this.”

“Hoping to woo your gal pal?” Cat teases.

Kara frowns and scrubs the mixing bowl harder.

“Why does everyone keep calling us that?” Kara mourns. “We’re just friends.”

Cat leans against the counter next to Kara. She appraises the girl she’s seen grow into a young woman. Always irritatingly brave and good to the point of idiocy.

“Kara, maybe it’s time to woman up and tell her you’re in love with her.”

Kara inches away suddenly, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Cat raises an eyebrow to challenge the denial she knows is about to come.

“Me? In love with Lena? Wha—I—I would never. I have never been in love in my life, ever.”

Cat pinches the bridge of her nose as Kara continues to babble on.

“Maybe you’re in love with her, huh? All this backhanded admiration with that CatCo exclusive about SpaceX. Maybe it was all for show. Ha. I got you. Check and mate!”

Kara looks at her with a smug look, like Carter thinking he’s just talked his way out of being yelled at for eating all the cookies. Cat takes a deep breath to stop herself from smacking the other woman upside the head.

“Kara.”

Cat watches as she deflates and goes back to washing dishes.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve had a crush on her since I was a teenager. She’ll never look at me like that.”

Cat softens.

“Dear, get a grip and stop moping. She’s never going to sleep with you if you wallow in self-doubt all the time.”

Kara looks at her indignantly. Cat smiles.

“Take a leap of faith, you deserve to be happy,” Cat says knowingly. Kara stares at her for a long time, lower lip hanging open as she finds the words to say.

“I—Thank you,” Kara finally says.

“People literally pay thousands for my advice,” Cat notes, moving to dry the dishes Kara has washed. “You better heed it. Now if only I can help poor Winslow as well.”

“It’s always tough for Winn,” Kara says quietly. “This time of the year.”

“And why’s that?”

Kara stops what she’s doing and looks around to make sure Carter is out of earshot.

“Do you remember, twenty years ago when that pilot intentionally crashed the plane he was piloting and killed everyone onboard?”

Cat nods in recollection.

“That was Winn’s dad.”

“Oh.”

 

 

**Lena and Kara**

 

“Alright,” Kara says with a sigh. “What’s wrong? I can’t seem to wipe that perpetual frown from your face.”

Lena gives her an apologetic smile.

“Sorry,” She sits down on one of the benches in the big art gallery and stares at the large oil painting in front of her. Kara follows suit and sits close, staring at Lena stare at the art.

“The board of directors have been undermining me since I took over as CEO,” Lena explains, not looking away from the painting. “There is resistance in everything I try to do, no matter how small or big the change.”

“Huh,” Kara muses, crossing her arms and thinking hard. “What sort of changes are you trying to implement?”

“I have a side project,” Lena says shyly. She reaches into her purse to pull her tablet out. This isn’t really something they should be discussing in the crowded main gallery of the National City Art Institute, but lately, Lena has been throwing caution to the wind when it comes to Kara.

“I’ve been working on this for a while now, but I keep hitting roadblocks.”

Kara leans in and Lena can’t help the sudden uptick in her heartbeat. She breathes in to steady the rhythm, which is a poor choice because now she is inundated with the smell of Kara’s shampoo. She fumbles with the tablet and forces herself to focus.

“Space-X?” Kara wonders out loud, reading the cover page.

“SpaceX,” Lena corrects her. “I want to make space exploration more feasible and affordable. And spearhead our attempts to get to Mars.”

Lena takes a gamble and looks at Kara. There is an impassive look on her face.

“I have initial proposals for reusable and more reliable launch vehicles. Vehicles we can land and re-use. And some ideas for alternative fuels. All the focus right now is on full thrust propellants just to launch in space, but we can’t sustain deep space travel with that much energy consumption. We need something lighter that can maintain momentum once we get up there.”

Lena continues to ramble about her ideas, excited to be talking to someone who has actually been to space. When she looks at Kara, there’s a mix of awe and admiration being directed her way.

“Lena,” Kara starts slowly. “This is amazing.”

She takes the tablet from Lena and scrolls through the design proposals.

“My god,” Kara says to herself. “This is going to revolutionize space travel. All of this.”

“Except, I can’t get LuthorCorp to buy in,” Lena laments.

Kara looks at her with a smile.

“Screw ‘em,” She says. “You don’t need their help. Why not start a new company? The federal government is always looking for ways to improve the space exploration program and cut costs. You might receive some help from them if you partner with the agency.”

Lena mulls over the thought.

“That’s not a bad idea…”

“And if you happen to have the second most popular astronaut ever on your side,” Kara says with a smug look. “Maybe that’ll increase your chances!”

“Second most…Are you talking about yourself?”

“No, I’m talking about Buzz Lightyear,” Kara says with a deadpan voice. “Of course, I’m talking about myself. I want to help and be part of this!”

Lena laughs. She stands up and tilts her head.

“Well, let’s get going then,” She holds out a hand. “I have a few things to show you.”

-

Two months into working with Kara on the SpaceX proposal and Lena finds herself even more enamored with Kara than before. It’s mildly terrifying, and even more irritating that her brother and mother seem to have figured it out despite being on the other side of the country.

“Once we get that grant,” Kara starts. “We’ll need to convince people to start using SpaceX’s services.”

“How do we do that?” Winn, Kara’s friend, ruminates. He’s been part of their efforts for a month now, consulting as a programmer and engineer.

“It’s like a Catch-22,” Winn continues. “You need experience to get experience.”

Lena looks at the whiteboard and taps her chin with a marker.

“We’ll have to launch something just to launch something,” She says to herself. A waste of resources, but a necessary evil.

Kara jumps off from the desk in excitement. Lena and Winn look at her in surprise.

“What if we send a wheel of cheese up there?!” She says ecstatically. “That would be hilarious. Because, you know, we thought the moon was made of cheese.”

“We? Who’s we?” Winn counters with a look on his face. Kara ignores him. Lena starts laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Kara asks with a smile.

Lena shakes her head.

“It’s nothing,” She explains. “When I first thought of SpaceX in college, Jack, my boyfriend at the time, helped me with some of the initial ideas and proposals. He hated cheese. It’s quite ironic if the launch vehicle he helped me come up with completes a maiden voyage with a wheel of cheese.”

“That is pretty funny,” Winn muses.

When Lena looks at Kara, there is an unreadable expression on her face.

“You okay there?” Lena asks.

Kara snaps out of it and smiles at her.

“Yep, all good.”

-

Later, when they’re alone in Lena’s apartment, watching The Martian on Lena’s ridiculously large TV, Kara brings up Jack.

“What happened?” She asks quietly. “To you and Jack?”

Lena’s taken aback by the question. She looks at Kara, who is pointedly looking at the TV. It’s been years since she’s talked to anyone about Jack.

“He killed himself,” Lena says softly, a small smile forming on her face. “It shook me to the core. I don’t think I ever really got over it. I shut myself off from everyone for a long time. Almost got kicked out of school.”

Lena looks down at their hands on the couch. Almost touching.

“Love is like madness. I don’t ever want to put myself through that much suffering again.”

“I see.”

When Kara pulls her hand away to hug herself, Lena tells herself it’s for the best.

-

“Well,” Lex says with a dramatic sigh. He holds his arms out and looks at Lena. “Unfortunately, it’s time for me to end this wonderful visit.”

Lena rolls her eyes but moves in to hug her dumb big brother. His arms envelop her and she snuggles closer under his chin.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Lex asks. She feels the vibrations on his chest as he speaks. “I can show up to a board meeting and give everyone a stern talking to.”

Lena scoffs.

“I think it would be even less impressive if I had my silly big brother yell at my bullies.”

“It worked when we were little,” Lex argues.

“Shh, you’re ruining the moment,” Lena says, hugging him tighter and breathing in the scent she’s always associated with home.

Lex pulls away and looks at her.

“I’m proud of you, kiddo,” He says sincerely, searching Lena’s eyes. “What you’re doing with LuthorCorp and your plans for SpaceX…it’s nothing short of breathtaking, Lena. You’re going to change the world.”

Lena blushes, looking away at the scrutiny.

“Dad would have been so proud,” Lex finishes with a kiss on her forehead.

“You think so?” Lena whispers.

“Oh yeah,” Lex nods, giving her a boyish grin. He looks at her and raises his eyebrows. Lena frowns.

She’s about to ask what’s wrong when Lex speaks once more.

“I see your collection of NASA apparel is growing,” He comments. “Bargain steal from your gal pal’s closet?”

Lena’s jaw drops slightly. When Lex starts laughing she pushes him away and opens the front door for him.

“Get out.”

“Ow, is this how you treat all your guests?” Lex asks as he holds on to the door frame. Lena pushes him out of the door with her entire body weight. At last, Lex lets go and almost falls. Lena crosses her arms and looks at him with a scowl, defensively covering the NASA logo on her left chest. She resists the temptation to turn around and close the door, knowing the “Danvers” printed on the back will just fuel the fire.

Lex keeps laughing, straightening out his pants.

“See you later, kiddo,” he winks.

“Bye Lex,” She says, watching him follow his security detail to the elevator.

The elevator door is barely closed when she hears her phone ringing. She looks down and sees Kara’s smiling face on her screen.

“Hello?”

_“Lena? There’s an emergency and I need you.”_

-

“Are you okay?” Lena says when she finally sees Kara leaning on a car parked next to her motorcycle. Lena is breathless from running. She realizes now she’s still wearing Kara’s shirt.

“Hey!” Kara, who seems perfectly fine and not in any of the conditions Lena concocted the drive over. “You made it. Come on. Follow me.”

“What?” Lena manages to say before Kara grabs her by the hand and pulls her away from the parking lot. They’re slowly approaching what appears to be a baseball field. There are several people standing on one side. She recognizes Winn. “I thought you said there was an emergency.”

“There is!” Kara says enthusiastically, looking back and smiling at Lena. “We’re short a girl and we have to win today to make it to the playoffs.”

She looks around and takes in their matching shirts. The realization dawns on Lena.

“Oh no,” She says, taking a step backward. Something stops her and she sees their hands are still joined. “You want _me_ to play? I’ve never held a bat before!”

“Nonsense,” Kara says with a bright smile. “You’ll do great. Please?”

Dammit. How can she refuse that smile?

-

“You can do this, Lena!” Winn yells from across the field.

Lena curses internally as she steps up to the plate, gripping Kara’s bat like her life depended on it. Of course, with her luck, she’s the last person to get a chance to bat. Based on Kara’s short crash course on softball, she surmises the whole game is resting on her shoulders.

“No pressure, Luthor,” Alex, Kara’s sister and the team’s self-proclaimed coach, confirms her fears from the sidelines. “Our tying run is on third base and our winning run is on first, it’s the bottom of the ninth inning, and we have two outs. You’re my only hope, Obi-Juan-Kenobi.”

“I didn’t need to hear that!” Lena yells nervously.  She has yet to make contact with the ball. Statistically speaking, her chances are moot.

The first pitch comes and she swings and misses. She grits her teeth and rights her helmet.

“That’s okay,” Alex says from the sidelines. “Focus on the ball.”

Lena nods to herself and focuses. She correctly refrains from swinging at the second pitch, which is ruled a ball by the umpire. Lena breaths out. She sees Winn readying to take off from third base. And on first, she sees Kara edging away from the base. Her sleeves are rolled up and even from this distance, Lena can see her biceps. She swallows hard. Kara notices her staring and gives her a thumbs-up.

“Stop gawking at my sister,” Alex hisses. “If you even get a piece of this ball I’ll make sure she gives you a big, fat kiss!”

“What?!” Lena exclaims, thrown off-balance by the comment.

Which is poorly timed. The third pitch comes flying towards her. Before she can even think or go into what she has been assuming is a good position, Lena swings the bat. The sound of ball on metal registers before Lena even realizes it’s the ball that’s sailing straight down the field, right between second and third. A ball that she hit.

“Luthor! Run, for fuck’s sake!”

That snaps Lena out of her reverie and she takes off running towards first base just before Winn makes it home. She makes it safely to first, as all attention on the field is on Kara. Lena has known Kara is fit, known it’s a requirement of astronauts to be physically fit, but seeing it on display is a whole different ball game.

Kara is quick, making it to third in the time it takes Lena to get to first base. And when she summersaults to avoid a tag and lands directly on home plate, Lena thinks she’s about to faint.

She’s standing there like an idiot when Kara turns and heads straight for her. Kara hugs her tight and lifts her off the ground and Lena wraps her legs around her to stabilize herself.

“Lena! We won!” Kara says loudly, looking at her with adoration in her eyes. Lena doesn’t even notice as the rest of the team mobs them. She just looks at Kara and smiles widely.

-

They’re celebrating at a dive bar where literally everyone seems to know the Danvers sisters when Lena gets the email. She extracts herself from the drunken singing and opens the message with bated breath.

“Everything okay over here?” Kara asks, appearing by her side. Lena looks up.

“Kara! We did it!” She exclaims, throwing her arms around Kara and nearly knocking her over in momentum.

“Woah, we did what?” Kara yells excitedly, not knowing what’s going on. Lena just laughs at this. She pulls away and shows the email.

“We got the federal grant! SpaceX is happening!” Lena says, eyes wild with excitement. “And now I can walk into that board of directors meeting on Monday and give them a giant ‘proverbial finger’!”

“Wait,” Kara says, pulling away and looking at Lena with a disbelieving face. “SpaceX is happening! Oh my god, Lena! You did it! You’re going to change the world!”

-

Kara and Lena are still giggly by the time they reach Lena’s front door, with Kara valiantly insisting on walking her home.

“You’re an inspiration, you know that?” Kara says quietly, leaning against the door frame as Lena fumbles with her keys.

“Stop it,” Lena says with a blush, pointedly looking away. It feels hotter than hell all of a sudden and Lena swears the number of keys on her key ring have doubled.

Kara leans forward to catch her eyes and smiles a lopsided smile.

“You’ve always inspired me,” Kara continues. “From when we met as young girls. You told me not to listen to the mean kids who made fun of me and to follow my own dreams. Inspiring words to a refugee girl who lost everything a few months before.”

Kara’s face softens.

“You told me you believed I could do anything.”

Lena stops fumbling with her keys and manages to unlock the door.

“You remember that?” She says quietly.

Kara smiles and stands up straight.

“I remember everything about you, Lena Luthor.”

Lena swallows and her eyes flit to Kara’s lips. She looks back up and finds Kara staring at her. When she steps closer, Lena stops breathing.

“Have a good night, Lena,” Kara says quietly, kissing her on the cheek. Almost at the corner of her lips.

“Good night,” Lena whispers back.

Kara walks backwards to the elevator, never taking her eyes off Lena. When the elevator dings, she tips an imaginary hat and winks. Lena laughs.

“Go home, you cad!”

“As you wish, princess!”

And when Kara’s gone and she’s left alone in the hallway, Lena reaches up to touch the spot Kara’s lips kissed a few moments before.

-

That night, Lena stays up longer than she should have, staring out the window and thinking of Kara. She’s been the one keeping Kara at bay, afraid of being hurt and left behind once more. But maybe, just maybe, things will be different this time.

Maybe Kara is going to be the one that stays.

By the time the sun rises, Lena makes up her mind to try again with Kara.

-

Halfway across the city, Kara stands by the kitchen island and stares at her phone on the counter. The ISS mission director’s name flashes on her screen. After downing a glass of water, Kara answers the call.

“Director Prince,” Kara says. “Top of the morning to you.”

_“Danvers, always on point with the lines.”_

“I try not to let my time at CatCo go to waste,” Kara shrugs. “What can I help you with?”

_“You got the job, Danvers. You were selected. Three hundred and sixty-five days in space. The longest any human’s ever been up there. I just thought you’d like to hear it from me before the official press release comes out.”_

“Oh,” Kara feels her stomach drop. Her eyes land on the polaroid stuck on the fridge. It's of her and Lena. “That’s…that’s incredible.”

_“Congratulations, Supergirl.”_


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end!

**Lex, Clark and Lois**

 

“I gotta say kiddo, this is excellent food you have here,” Lex says before enthusiastically biting into his taco. “Too bad mom couldn’t make it.”

“Don’t chew with your mouth full,” Lena chastises.

“Oh, never mind, mom is here,” Lex chides and stealthily evades Lena’s swatting hand.

“Anyhow,” Lex sits back on Lena’s couch and puts his feet up on the coffee table. “What was I talking about?”

“Your showdown with Agent Orange? Projects you’re rolling out?” Lena muses, stealing some nachos from his plate. Lex makes a show of moving the plate away from her reach. Lena scoffs.

“Right,” Lex says. “Well, there’s nothing to be said about our god awful president. I’ve all sorts of projects geared towards helping undocumented immigrants in the city and protecting transgender rights and nothing is going to deter me.”

Lena wrinkles her nose.

“I detest all these comments they’re making about you,” She says with a deep frown. “They’re attacking you and your personal life.”

Lex shrugs.

“It’s quite alright. I don’t care about that,” he leans back and looks at her with a smile. “It’s not the first time people have said things about me. Certainly won’t be the last.”

“But still,” Lena pouts and Lex laughs. He ruffles her hair and Lena bats his hand away.

“What troubles me beyond the name calling and complete degradation of American politics is all this polarization,” Lex says quietly. “Being a decent human being shouldn’t be this hard.”

Lena nods.

“I’m only going to say this once, because it’ll make your head even bigger,” Lena starts, sitting up and looking at Lex. “But if anyone is going to come out on top, it’s going to be you.”

Lex gives her a smug smirk. He’s about to make a remark when Lena rolls her eyes and changes the subject.

“How are Clark and Lois?” She makes for the remaining chips and Lex holds the plate above their heads, well beyond Lena’s stubby arms. She huffs and settles back on the couch with her arms crossed.

“Nice distraction tactic there, kid. You almost had me.”

“I’m genuinely concerned, thank you very much,” Lena says indignantly.

Lex puts the plate down and sighs. How are Clark and Lois? It makes him sad, thinking of his two best friends. They have not made any progress in mending their relationship. Clark has become a permanent fixture in his home, so much so that Lex is afraid he’s become glued to the couch; and Lois has thrown herself into work, hiding behind deadlines and excessive hours. He’s truly at a loss.

“They’re…they’re not okay,” Lex finally says. “Clark has taken a sabbatical. He’s all but languishing in my home.”

“And Lois?”

“Trying to kill herself with work,” Lex frowns. “I try to convince her to take a break here and there, but to no avail. She threw a sandwich at me when I tried to interrupt a writing session.”

Lena hugs one of her throw pillows.

“Have you tried broaching the topic with either of them,” Lena ponders.

Lex shakes his head.

“No,” He says sadly. “They both become sad and upset whenever I try to get them to open up about it. It’s a delicate and difficult subject.”

“They have to talk to someone,” Lena reasons. “It doesn’t have to be you. But they won’t start to heal if they don’t talk about it. They would listen to you. You just have to knock some sense into them.”

“Not literally, I hope.”

“Nah,” Lena leans on his shoulder. “Kara and I once had a discussion about who would win in a fight, you or Clark. I said Clark would beat you up. She agreed.”

Lex smiles and throws an arm around her shoulders.

“Kara, eh?”

“I hate you.”

-

“Ugh.”

Lex hears a groan from underneath the pile of pillows and blankets on the couch. There’s movement, but so far the creature underneath has not emerged. Lex moves closer and kicks the foot sticking out of the blankets.

“Come on,” He says. “You’re coming with me.”

Clark surfaces enough to meet Lex with his bleary eyes, hair sticking up in all sorts of directions. It reminds Lex of their college days and their dalliances with alcoholism. His eyes dart to the empty high ball glass on the coffee table.

“Where we goin’?” Clark mumbles between yawns.

“Out,” Lex says. “Catch!”

Clark falls out of the couch with the grace of a baby deer, legs and blankets tangled in a mess on the floor. He looks from the thing he caught and then up at Lex with confused expression.

“Come on,” Lex says, walking out of the guest room. “I’ll be downstairs.”

-

“Lex, what are we doing?” Clark asks, scratching his beard and looking around the gym.

Lex looks back at him over his shoulder before climbing up under the ropes. Clark follows suit and climbs up with better dexterity than Lex. His eyes dart around the empty gym before looking back at Lex.

“We haven’t boxed since college,” Clark says, eyeing Lex as he tightens the Velcro on his gloves. “And you didn’t have secret service guys watching from the back of the room.”

Lex shrugs, making a show of cracking his neck and stretching his arms.

“What’s the matter, are you afraid or something?” Lex teases, hopping up and down to get his blood flowing.

Clark laughs, finally donning the boxing gloves Lex threw at him earlier.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he retorts.

“Buddy, all you’ve been doing is languishing on my couch and drinking. I think you should be the one who’s worried.”

Clark’s eyes snap at him at the comment.

“Watch yourself,” Clark says quietly as he finishes strapping his gloves.

“Or what,” Lex says. He lunges and swipes at Clark, who easily blocks his punch with his forearm. “What are you going to do when things get tough?”

Another punch blocked.

“Run away and hide?”

An upper cut blocked.

“Leave your wife to deal with it all by herself?!”

Caught off-guard, Lex’s glove slams on flesh and bone. Clark staggers back and brings a glove to his cheek. When he looks up at Lex, he looks murderous.

“Shut up!” He yells, charging at Lex and throwing a punch. Lex musters his arms to shield his face. “Fuck you! You don’t know anything.”

Another punch. Lex walks backwards and raises a block.

“You’re a coward!”

“Shut up!” Clark repeats, pushing him.

His feet stumble and he falls backwards. He doesn’t have time to react before Clark is on top of him, throwing another punch. He throws his hands up and sees his secret service moving to approach. He shakes his head and signals for them to stay in place.

He doesn’t see the hard punch that lands on his face.

“Shut up!” Clark yells repeatedly, repeatedly attacking Lex. “Shut up!”

His yelling eventually evolves into mumbling as Clark’s face becomes a mess of tears. Each blow weakens until they’re practically nudges Lex feels on the arms shielding his face. When he feels a sobbing Clark lean on his chest, Lex uncovers his face and throws an arm over his shaking shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Lex says quietly. “It’s okay.”

-

Lex puts the car in park. He looks to his right and sees Clark eyeing the house nervously. His shoulders are hunched, like he’s trying to hide behind the car window.

“What if she hates me?” Clark asks quietly.

“She won’t,” Lex assures him.

Clark turns and looks at him. Lex smiles at the trepidation on his face.

“She won’t,” Lex repeats with conviction. Clark studies his face.

“Man,” He lets out a laugh. “I really fucked up your face.”

Lex grimaces, fingers coming up to touch his black eye.

“I mean, it wasn’t great to begin with.”

Clark lets out a hearty laugh, the first one Lex has heard in what feels like ages. He opens the door and steps out. He leans down and meets Lex’s eyes.

“Thank you,” Clark says sincerely.

Lex shrugs.

“All in a day’s work.”

Clark smiles.

“Alright, here goes nothing.”

He closes the door and slings his bag over his shoulder. Lex watches as he slowly walks up the steps and knocks on the door.

-

“Sir, what happened to your face?” Chloe, his administrative assistant, gasps while the other office aides look aghast.

Lex laughs, touching his black eye consciously.

“You should see the other guy,” He jokes, taking the coffee offered to him. He moves to his private office.

“Miss Lane is waiting for you sir,” Chloe informs him, still staring at his bruised face. “You have thirty minutes before the morning briefing.”

Lex stops in his tracks. He looks from the closed door to Chloe and nods.

“Thanks, Chlo. Can you please get some tea and biscuits?”

Chloe nods and walks off to the kitchen. The entire staff returns to their work and Lex braves the door in front of him.

“Good morning.”

He’s not prepared for the hug that almost bowls him over. Steadying his coffee, Lex wraps an arm around Lois’ lower back and kicks the door shut behind him.

“Hey, hey,” He says softly. “It’s okay.”

“But you know, you can’t keep coming here like you own the place. I am the mayor you know. I’m very busy and important.”

Lois pushes him off with a scoff.

“That head of yours is getting bigger by the second,” she retorts. “You won’t be able to fit through the door by the time your term is over.”

Lex laughs. Lois takes his hand and holds it tight and she looks at him with a serious expression.

“Thank you,” She tells him sincerely. “For taking care of him and of me. For always taking care of us. And for knocking some sense into that stubborn teddy bear of ours.”

“I’m pretty sure he did all the knocking,” Lex jokes, pointing to his eye. “The press is having a field day--”

“Shh. I mean it Lex. Thank you, for loving Clark.”

Lex opens his mouth to make a clever quip when he sees the look Lois is leveling him with. He feels his face heat up with the heavy embarrassment on his chest. He looks away.

“Thank you,” Lois repeats, squeezing his hand. With a smile, she washes away all his doubts. This is something they’ve never spoken out loud; and something he has always suspected Lois has known about. A silent understanding passes between them, born out of their shared love for the kind and oblivious goofball from Kansas whose smile can light up the world. Her eyes tell him, ‘It’s okay. It’s okay to love him too.’

“I love you more for it,” Lois says quietly, tiptoeing to kiss his forehead. “And all I want is for you to find happiness.”

“I’m happy,” Lex shrugs and Lois gives him a knowing look. “I am.”

“If you say so,” Lois rolls her eyes.

A knock on the door breaks their moment.

“That would be Chloe with hot tea and biscuits,” Lex looks over his shoulder to Lois while he opens the door. “I figured you’d be hangry.”

Lois scowls and crosses her arms. When Lex offers her the platter, she takes a minute before finally relenting and taking a biscuit.

“Fine,” She huffs. “But only because being around you is so taxing.”

Lex laughs.

-

Brushing his fingers on the drapes, Lex sneaks a glance outside. The colorful sea of people gathered in the streets extend as far as his eyes can see. There are signs and flags and loud, vibrant music.

“Nervous?”

He turns at the sound and finds Clark standing by his desk. Lex recovers quickly.

“Nah,” He shrugs. “I was born for this.”

Clark laughs and nods towards the door.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come on then.”

“Jesus,” Lex shakes his head. “You, Lena, Lois, Chloe…what is the point of being mayor if everyone just orders me around.”

He picks up his sunglasses and makes for the door. A strong hand on his shoulder stops him.

“Hey Lex,” Clark says slowly. “Thanks again, for saving our marriage. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re making progress.”

“Good,” Lex responds.

“And we’ve been talking about trying again. Trying to have another baby.”

Lex smiles at that. He nods to himself and moves toward the door.

“Well now you know how to repay me. You can name the kid after me.”

Behind him, Clark laughs.

-

“You’re a busy man, Mr. Luthor,” The reporter says. “Last week was the ribbon cutting for the Metropolis LGBT Community Center and I hear you’ll be a guest judge in the Great American Bake Off final round next week.”

“That would be correct,” Lex nods. He points to the sky. “Someone up there convinced me to accept the request.”

“God?”

Lex laughs.

“No, Kara Danvers, in the Space Station.”

The reporter laughs.

“Besides, I’m not one to turn down free food.”

“I don’t blame you for that, Cat Grant’s soufflé last week looked to die for, so I’m a little jealous,” the reporter agrees. “But I digress. You are also this year’s Pride Parade Grand Marshal. How does that feel?”

He points the microphone to Lex and waits expectantly. Lex can feel the excited energy behind him, where the masses are ready to begin their march. Behind the cameraman, Lex spots Clark, Lois, his mom, and Lena happily chatting away. Lena notices him looking and gives him an encouraging smile.

“Well,” He starts, looking directly at the camera. “As an openly gay man, I’m incredibly honored to be the Grand Marshal.”

Lex feels the reporter’s eyes shift form the camera to him.

“It’s been a challenging year for all of us, but it’s also been peppered with triumphant moments for humanity. I’m positive this will be another great parade. I hope everyone remembers why we are all here: amid all the turmoil in today’s world, we’re taking the time to celebrate love, family, and community. We’re all in this together and we’re only going to get through these troubling times if we take care of each other.”

The reporter is speechless for a moment.

“Alright then,” he finally manages to say. “An excellent message to kick off this year’s Pride Parade. Thank you, Mayor Luthor.”

“Anytime. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Parade to Marshal.”

The reporter laughs. Lex waves bye to the camera before jogging back to his spot at the head of the Parade. Lena stands beside him in her rainbow suspendered glory.

“Everything okay?”

Lex smiles.

“Never been better.”

 

 

 

**Cat, Carter, and Winn**

 

“Listen to me, space ranger,” Cat spits out, eyeing her assistant as she closes the door behind her. She reopens the minimized window on her laptop to continue watching a sugar flower tutorial video.

_“It’s called astronaut,”_ Kara’s voice chirps from the phone.

“Whatever it’s called. I’m telling you to woman up and just tell that Luthor woman how you feel,” Cat retorts, taking down notes in her baking notebook. She flips the page and curses to herself when she finds she’s at the end of the notebook. She reaches for a notepad.

_“Miss Grant—”_

“No more excuses,” Cat tuts. “You can brave being shot up in a glorified can up to the atmosphere, where you can’t breathe, and you can’t even face this woman and tell her you’re head over heels in love with her?”

Silence. Cat actually inspects the phone to verify that yes, she is still connected to Kara’s call.

_“What if she doesn’t feel the same way?”_

“Well,” She starts slowly. “She might or she might not. But you’ll never know until you try. If she doesn’t, I’ll bake you a soufflé.”

_“I’m really sad I won’t be there to support you,”_ Kara sighs, eagerly changing the subject.

“I thought you’ll be able to watch the show from the space station?” Cat stops writing.

_“I can and I will be. But I kind of wanted to be a guest judge or something. Offer my expertise.”_

“By expertise you mean flexing your newfound fame and hero status to gorge on free food,” Cat says dryly, rewinding the video back to rewatch a part she missed.

_“Psh,”_ Kara brushes it off. _“That totally makes it sound like I’m taking advantage of people. I’ve just had a lot of experience with food. I eat. A lot.”_

“I’m deeply saddened that you won’t be able to partake then,” Cat says with a sarcastic tone. “Whatever will we do without you?”

_“Don’t worry, I already thought about it,”_ Kara supplies. _“I’ve been brainstorming possible replacements. Just ask Winn. Wait, speaking of Winn…”_

At the mention of Winn, Cat stops the video and removes her chic but totally unnecessary reading glasses.

“Where _is_ that man?”

_“That’s actually what I called you about,”_ Kara starts slowly. _“It’s sort of his tradition to hole up in his apartment on the anniversary of the plane crash.”_

The plane crash. Kara puts it so simply. Cat knows the contrary, based on the research she did after Kara initially mentioned Winn’s connection to the tragedy. She remembers the event, having occurred when her career had started taking off.

_“I normally stop by to make sure he’s, you know…”_ Kara trails off. _“Eating something other than cereal, and drinking water, and that there’s enough blankets and SciFi movies.”_

“I’ve seen his DVD bookshelf,” Cat notes. “He can’t possibly run out of material.”

_“Right,”_ Kara laughs. _“But I also do it to keep him company.”_

“How unfortunate for him.”

_“But since I’m leaving for, you know, space next week…”_

“Really? I hadn’t noticed the god awful 24-hour coverage on your groundbreaking mission.”

_“I was wondering if you could check in on him.”_

“And you would thi—I beg your pardon?”

Cat sits up abruptly at the request.

_“Can you check in on him, please?”_

“Me?” Cat points to herself before remembering Kara can’t see her. “What can I possibly do to help him? Don’t you have a band of merry friends who will surely be more supportive and uplifting?”

Kara sighs.

“I’m sure I can make space on Mr. Olsen’s schedule if that’s a problem—”

_“Cat,”_ Kara says with a gentle tone. _“Believe it or not, Winn respects you and values your time and opinion. We all do. If my life were a tv show, you would be the wise mentor I’d turn to in times of dire need—for tough career moves, life changing decisions, alien invasions.”_

“You do that now,” Cat rubs her temple. “And you just called me old.”

_“I didn’t,”_ Kara argues. _“I specifically picked the word wise. Which has does not directly imply age in any capacity.”_

Cat sighs.

“Fine,” She relents “What does one bring to these things?”

-

Taking a deep breath, Cat knocks on the door.

No response.

She knocks again.

After the third time, Cat raps on the door with more intent and follows it with a distinctive, “Winslow!”

There’s shuffling before the door opens, revealing a disheveled Winn who is looking at her with wild eyes. Cat softens a bit and adjusts the bag in her hands.

“Miss Grant?” Winn says after a minute.

“Yes, that is what I go by,” Cat says. “May I come in?”

“Um, it’s not really prese—okay, never mind then,” Winn mumbles as she pushes past him.

Cat busies herself with unloading her Whole Foods bag. Winn stands on the other side of the counter and eyes her curiously.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the visit, but what are you doing here?” Winn says slowly, eyeing the homemade cupcakes on the counter, along with the salad, hummus, pita chips, and healthy, organic pizza. There is a bottle of expensive merlot and six-pack of the beer Kara recommended. “Did I forget to finish something for the website redesign before I went on vacation?”

“No, no,” Cat shrugs. “That fool in space sent me here.”

“Fool in…Kara?” Winn makes a face. “Kara sent you here.”

“Yes, Kara did,” Cat looks through the cupboards as she speaks to him. “Something about making sure you’re fed and well blanketed and watching plenty of Game of Crowns.”

“It’s Thrones.”

“What about thrones?” Cat looks at him, pausing in her search for a wine glass.

Winn shakes his head.

“Never mind.”

Cat shrugs, returning to her search.

“This will do,” Cat says to herself, eyeing the wine glass with a wrinkled nose. She looks at him expectantly. “Well, what are you waiting for. Let’s start watching this show of yours.”

-

“Well,” Cat says. “I was not prepared for any of that.”

“Yeah…” Winn agrees slowly. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“What a horrible man that Robert was. And a terrible father too.”

Winn snorts.

“My dad and I were inseparable,” Winn starts slowly. “We looked alike and we liked the same things. We used to tinker away in the basement, working on model planes and a flight simulator. I was his mini-me. And it used to upset me when he would leave for work.”

He takes a sip of beer.

“And then, one day, he left for work and never came back. And he killed one hundred and forty-three people.”

Cat listens quietly.

“I couldn’t even be sad,” Winn tells her quietly. “How could I miss my dad when other kids also lost their parents because of mine? Because mine intentionally crashed a plane to the side of a mountain?”

Winn shakes his head.

“I have spent my whole life pushing away everything about me that reminded me of him. Because I’m terrified that whatever madness he had inside is brewing in me.”

“So now you hide in my IT department,” Cat says knowingly.

Winn turns his head towards her, looking like he’s about to refute what she’s saying. Cat’s raised eyebrow stops him.

“You spend your days working on menial things like my email not working or our website glitching. But you deny yourself the satisfaction of pursuing something greater, something bigger. Something you can really sink your teeth into.”

Cat gives him a small smile.

“Because you’re afraid of becoming your father.”

Winn looks at her for a moment before nodding slowly.

“You know,” Cat starts slowly. “I’m not one to give unsolicited advice, but we don’t have to let our families or where we come from define who we become as people.”

Winn remains silent, holding his beer with both hands. Cat gives him a small smile.

“As long as you remember to keep looking in front of you, instead of constantly glancing at the rearview mirror. You’ll be fine.”

A ding breaks the moment. Cat sees that it’s a text from Carter.

“Well, I best be going,” Cat announces, getting up and adjusting her dress. “I’ve a son to feed. Oh, before I forget…we begin filming next week.”

Winn looks at her with a quizzical look. Cat rolls her eyes.

“The Bake Off,” She says, annoyed. Winn’s eyes widen in recognition.

“Oh! It’s happening!” He says, excited for the first time that night. “Who are the contestants?”

Cat smirks, gathering her bag.

“You’ll just have to wait and see Winslow.”

-

_[Woman’s voiceover as footage of various baking shenanigans unfold]: Welcome back, kids! It’s been an exciting few weeks here at the Bake Off! We’ve had laughs!_

_[Sara Lance, astronaut]: What can I say? I’m really good with my hands *winks*._

_[Voiceover]: We’ve had tears!_

_[Barry Allen, actor, CSI]: *quietly crying while holding out a burnt cake in the cake pan*_

_[Voiceover]: We’ve had utter genius moments!_

_[Cat Grant, Queen of Media]: *eyeroll* course, I knew it would work._

_[Voiceover]: And we’ve had complete disasters in the form of a leaning tower of Pizza!_

_[Mike Matthews, the “Bachelor”]: You know, it seemed like a good idea in my head._

_[J’onn J’onnz, Olympic legend]: *facepalm*_

_[Mick Rory, Rockstar]: Yeah, I’m sure that’s not the first time._

_[Voiceover]: The horror! The drama! The absurd amount of sugar we’ve gone through in 4 weeks. Let’s join our hosts as they recap what a journey this has been for all of us._

_[Mary Berry]: Well, America, I must say this has been quite an adventure. Never have I seen such innovation—interesting twists to classics tried and true. And it has been such a joy to see our contestants grow._

_[Duff Goldman]: *laughs* Some more than others, that’s for sure._

_[Mary Berry]: This is true, Duff. Although, do you know who has been a consistent surprise every week?_

_[Duff Goldman]: Who would that be, Miss Berry?_

_[Mary Berry]: Miss Catherine Grant!_

_[Duff Goldman]: I totally agree with what you’re saying. She has just been showing up every week. She’s been extremely successful with all the technical challenges. The Queen of Media has certainly taken America by a storm._

_[Mary Berry]: Indeed. You can see her confidence building with every challenge and with that comes the comfort of experimentation and creativity. I, for one, am excited to see what she’ll come up with next._

_[Duff Goldman]: And with that, let’s go ahead and move to this week’s challenge._

-

“Mom?”

Startled, Cat almost drops the rolling pin. She looks up and finds Carter standing by the doorway. His hair is sticking up on the right side of his head and one pajama pant leg is rucked up to his knees. He rubs his eyes awake and yawns.

Cat gives him a soft smile.

“Hi honey,” she says, waving him over with a hand.

He ambles over and climbs on the stool, leaning on his arms sleepily and observing the mess of flour on the counter.

“What’re you makin’?” He asks in between yawns.

“A yellow cake,” Cat explains.

“Are you nervous about the last challenge?”

Cat stops.

“Nervous? Me?” She scoffs. “I don’t think I know what that word means.”

“Mom.”

Cat looks up and finds a sleepy but admonishing look.

“Well,” She says slowly. “Hypothetically. If I were, let’s say, a little nervous for tomorrow, what would be so wrong about that?”

“Nothing,” Carter says with a smile. “It’s okay to be nervous. Don’t worry mom. You’re going to kick butt.”

“Carter.”

“You’re going to do great,” Carter tries again with a sheepish smile.

Carter tries and fails to stifle a yawn.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Cat asks, continuing with the dough kneading.

“Nope,” Carter mumbles. “Had a dream about dad.”

Cat stills.

“’M sorry,” Carter yawns again. “I know I’m not supposed to talk about him.”

That surprises Cat. She looks at her son and frowns, wondering how he came to that conclusion. She washes and dries her hands and pulls a stool closer to sit next to Carter. Resting her chin on one hand, she brushes some of the tendrils away from his eyes. Carter leans in to her touch.

“Why do you say that?” Sha asks quietly.

Carter shrugs.

“You didn’t like him,” He says casually, averting his eyes. “You used to get so annoyed, being in the same room as him. I just.”

He sighs.

“I don’t want you to be upset with me so I don’t talk about him.”

Oh.

For a brief moment, Cat sees Winn in his dimly lit apartment, gripping his beer bottle and stubbornly refusing to speak about his own father. 

“Carter,” Cat starts slowly. “Your dad and I had our differences. Many differences. He hurt me and I hurt him and he used to drive me crazy. But…”

Cat smiles to herself.

“I loved your father, in a way. I have good memories with him and I will always be grateful because he gave me you. At the end of the day, he was a great father and he loved you more than anything in the world.”

Carter looks at her with tears in his eyes.

“Sweetheart,” she pulls him in for a hug. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t be sad and miss your dad or reminisce about him around me. That’s not true.”

She pulls away to look at him.

“I miss him too,” She admits quietly, to her son and to herself. “We can miss him together, okay?”

“M’kay.”

“Come here,” She moves to hug him closer. “How about after the show is over we go take a trip somewhere, just you and me? Maybe we can go on a road trip and visit your dad’s favorite spots along the Pacific Highway?”

Carter looks up at her with a teary smile.

“I’d like that a lot.”

Cat kisses his head and pulls him in tight.

-

_[Woman’s voiceover as footage of various baking shenanigans unfold]: This is it, kiddos! The last challenge we’ve all been waiting for! We are down to two contestants. You may know him as a dashing, genius lab analyst in CSI: Las Vegas, but here he’s known to cry over baking disasters. Welcome Barry Allen!_

_[Barry Allen]: I cried once. Once._

_[Woman’s voiceover]: And last but not least, the Queen of Media herself, and soufflé extraordinaire, Miss Cat Grant!_

_[Camera pans to an empty chair. The camera refocuses and Cat is seen in the background, piping icing on several cookies, her son leaning over the counter and laughing at the designs]_

_[Woman’s voiceover]: D’awww._

_[Cat Grant looks up and sees the camera, narrowing her eyes and giving the camera man a death glare, the camera immediately whips away]._

_[Woman’s voiceover]: There we have it. Alright, let’s move on to our judges and our esteemed guest judge this week, the Mayor of Metropolis, Lex Luthor._

-

“You won, mom!” Carter gushes, hugging her midsection. Cat hugs him back and gives him a small smile.

“That was a great yellow cake.”

Cat looks up at the voice and sees Winn approaching them.

“Winslow,” Cat says, surprised to see him. Carter lets go and runs off to play with the other children milling about.

“I thought I’d cheer you on in person, since I am your Jedi Master,” Winn laughs and Cat rolls her eyes. “Maybe I can recount horror stories from when you first started baking. Like the great yellow cake incident.”

“Don’t.”

His face softens and he smiles at her.

“Thank you, Miss Grant,” Winn says sincerely. “Thank you for keeping me company and giving me some real talk. I needed that.”

“And for sitting through that awful show.”

“Yes, yes, and for sitting through Game of Thrones.”

Winn fidgets for a second.

“What is it, Winslow? Out with it.”

“I, uh, I also wanted to tell you that I’m leaving CatCo.”

That was a surprise. Cat felt both of her eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Really?”

Winn rubs the back of his neck. He glances behind him and Cat follows his line of sight, where the guest judge, Lex Luthor, is standing with his sister, Lena. Cat’s only met her once for an interview, but she feels like she knows her from all of Kara’s lovestruck ramblings.

“Yeah, remember when you told me to find something I can sink my teeth into?” Cat nods. “Well, I did. Kara introduced me to Lena Luthor and I’ve been helping here and there with her SpaceX project-”

“Why am I not surprised.”

“-And she’s offered me a job.”

“Of course, she did.”

“Which I accepted.”

Cat sighs. Winn looks at her nervously. After letting him sweat it for a minute, Cat gives him a small smile.

“Congratulations, Winn,” She says. “This is an exciting opportunity.”

Winn’s face breaks out into a smile.

“You’re not mad?”

Cat rolls her eyes.

“How can I be mad when I told you to pursue your dreams? This was my idea, after all,” Cat tuts. She awkwardly pats him on the head, like the dorky little brother she never had. “Well done. Now let’s go eat some of this cake.”

She moves toward the spread in the tent and stops for a moment.

“And Winn?”

Winn looks at her.

“Thank you,” Cat says sincerely. “For helping with all of this. For helping me make Carter happy.”

“Aw, shucks Miss Grant-”

“Never mind,” Cat snaps, turning around and speed walking to the tent. Winn laughs and runs after her.

**Lena and Kara**

 

_Something came up. I’m sorry but I won’t be able to make dinner today._

Lena sighs as she sends the text, waiting for Kara’s reply. She straightens her dress and pretends to find lint on her shoulder. When several minutes pass and a reply doesn’t come, Lena tells herself it was only a matter of time before Kara got fed up with her. This is the third time this week she’s cancelled on Kara.

She eyes the picture of the two of them on her fridge while waiting for her coffee.

Everyone leaves, she reminds herself. Everyone always leaves. And Kara is no different.

The espresso machine dings and Lena takes the travel mug with, locking the door and the empty apartment behind her.

-

The sound of a knock startles Lena. She puts her book down and makes her way to the door, wondering how the delivery man managed to go up the elevator without calling her.

When she opens the door, she finds Kara holding up a delivery bag.

“I might’ve bribed the guy to let me bring this up here,” she says with a sheepish smile.

“Kara,” Lena says. She holds the door open and stares.

“Hi. Can I come in?”

“Uh,” Lena starts to say but Kara is already barreling in. Lena closes the door slowly, drawing out the moment before she turns and faces Kara again. She summons her inner CEO to deal with this as quickly and as painless as possible.

When her eyes meet Kara’s, she’s not ready for the sadness she sees.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Kara blurts out.

Lena thinks about making up excuses for a brief minute before realizing Kara deserves more than that.

“I have,” she finally says. “You’re leaving.”

Kara takes a tentative step toward her, giving Lena plenty of time to move away if she wants to.

“I know I have to go away next week and I have to go away for a long time, but I was wondering if you might want to go on a date with me when I come back.”

“Kara…”

Kara pushes forward.

“I really like you, Lena. I think I might even love you. I think I have for a long time and I’ve just been too stupid to see it. And the timing is terrible but give us a shot. I, uh, believe it or not, I’ll have WiFi in the Space Station and I would like to call you every day if you’d let me.”

The silence is deafening. Kara watches her apprehensively and Lena can see her fingers have lost color with the twisting and turning as she wrings her hands.

“Kara…I can’t.”

Kara visibly deflates.

“You can’t.” Kara pauses. “Or you won’t?”

That gives Lena a pause.

“You see, the thing is…with you, it’s different. I barely survive Jack, but I know I wouldn’t survive it if we didn’t work out. It would be better if we didn’t know how life would’ve been with each other than to know and then lose it. I would never recover.”

Lena can feel the unshed tears in her eyes and the pounding heart in her chest. She pulls her arms closer to her chest and hopes Kara will understand she’s doing this for both of them. 

Kara purses her lips and nods to herself. She takes a deep breath and lets out a shaky breath.

“I’m standing in front of you, asking you to love me back. And you’re too afraid to even try.”

“Kara, please don’t make this any harder. I’m not brave like you.”

Kara lets out a watery laugh.

“Brave? I’m terrified. I’ve been flung to outer space in a glorified can and this is the scariest thing I’ve had to do. You’re worth it.”

Kara gives her a pleading look and Lena looks away, terrified of this thing between them. Moments pass and Kara lets out a deep sigh—one that shakes Lena to the core.

“I’ll see myself out.”

She feels Kara move closer to her and press the lightest of kisses on her cheek.

“Good bye, Lena.”

“Good bye, Kara.”

Lena watches as she walks out and closes the door behind her.

-

“Wait, wait,” Lex says. Lena can hear him putting his cutlery down but she doesn’t dare look up to meet his eyes.

“What exactly did she say? Verbatim.”

Lena purses her lips and continues to cut her steak aggressively. She can feel her brother’s and mom’s eyes on her. It suddenly feels extremely hot and Lena wonders if maybe the thermostat is set too high. Their mom always did keep the manor at a ridiculously uninhabitable temperature.

“Lena,” Her mom coaxes.

Lena sighs.

“She said she would have WiFi at the space station—”

“Of course, LuthorCorp put it there.”

“Lex.”

“Sorry, mom. Proceed.”

“That she would like to call me every day, if I want that.”

“That’s quite the commitment,” Lex whistles.

“I know.”

“You’re incredibly dull. You’d run out of things to talk about after a week.”

“Lex!”

“It’s true!”

Lena glares at him. Lex puts his hands up in defense.

“I’m going to give you a matching black eye is what’s true.”

“Mom!”

She’s about to flick some asparagus across the table when she feels a warm hand on her arm.

“Lena,” her mom starts. “What else did she say?”

She feels herself deflate, all the fight leaving her. Lena holds her mom’s gaze for a moment before returning to her dinner.

“She said she was standing there, asking me to love her back.”

Silence.

When a few minutes pass without a response, Lena slowly looks up. Lex looks at her with kind eyes, almost as if he knows the answer before asking the question.

“And what did you say?”

“That I can’t,” Lena whispers, her admission wrapped in shame.

“Can’t?” Lex says slowly. “Or won’t?”

His words echo Kara’s and Lena is pulled back to that day, that moment when Kara arrived at her door with takeout in one hand and her heart in the other. Asking Lena to give them a chance.

It makes Lena feel so, so deeply sad. It makes her almost regret turning Kara down.

She knows did it for the best. Self-preservation at its finest. Her family understands; they have to. They saw Lena spiral out of control when Jack died. Lex pried her from the jaws of despair. She tells herself that she did the right thing.

“Lena, I’m going to say this because I love you,” Lex says. “But you’re an idiot.”

Lena looks up at him in surprise. She’s met with her brother’s kind eyes and his soft smile.

He doesn’t understand. How could he? How could they possibly understand having found happiness only to have it be taken from you? She looks at her mom for support and finds kind, understanding eyes—telling Lena, ‘I too have loved and lost.’

It makes Lena pause. Would her mom have chosen not to be with her dad if she knew that she would be the one left behind? Would she have chosen a different life to spare herself from the pain?

Was their life together worth it?

“Was it worth it?” Lena asks her mom quietly.

A look of confusion passes on her mom’s face before it softens into a smile. She nods.

“Worth every second,” Her mom confirms what Lena already knew. “I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

It makes her miss her dad.

It makes her miss Kara.

Kara.

Lena puts her face in her hands.

“I really screwed this up, didn’t I?”

“Yup.”

“I’m an idiot. A big idiot.”

“The biggest idiot to ever idiot.”

“Lex.”

“Sorry, mom. Can’t help it. Low hanging fruit.”

“Lex, can your security detail clear traffic to D.C.?”

“No.”

Lena deflates.

“But our family jet can.”

-

_“Miss Danvers, over here!”_

_“Question for the Daily Planet, Miss Danvers!”_

“Lois, go ahead,” Director Prince says, motioning for Lois Lane to stand and ask her question. Next to her, Kara gives her cousin-in-law a small smile.

“What scientific projects will you be investigating during your one-year stay at the ISS?”

“Thank you,” Kara leans toward the microphone. “I will be participating in an ongoing study that our hardworking scientists have designed to determine the effects of short-term and long-term effects extended space missions may have on the human body, in hopes that this will further our understanding of what it takes to go to Mars and beyond. That will require some blood tests and biometric measurements. Beyond that, there are some studies related to vegetation and tissue regeneration that I am most interested in. That and how far I can stretch astronaut cuisine given what we have to work with up there.”

The crowd of media representatives laughs. Kara smiles and looks around the hotel ballroom.

“Things you’ll miss the most while you’re gone?” Another reporter pipes up from next to Lois, who glares at the intrusion.

“Pizza,” Kara says without hesitation. “Potstickers.”

More laughs.

“I won’t be able to finish this summer’s softball season. My sister isn’t too happy about it.”

The crowd laughs.

“And things you look forward to when you return?” The same reporter asks.

“The new Star Wars movie,” Kara says with a cheeky grin. “Eating more soufflé.”

Kara shrugs.

“Just being home with my family and friends. With people I, uh, I care about.”

Director Prince leans in to her microphone.

“We have time for one more question.”

“I have one!”

-

Lena jumps to her feet and speaks before she can lose her nerve.

“Yes, go ahead, miss…”

Oh god, Lena thinks to herself, it actually worked. She’s rooted in her spot, not having thought of what to say beyond this point.

“Lena Luthor,” Lex stage whispers from next to her.

“Lena Luthor,” Lena parrots.

Kara’s eyes snap to hers. Lena looks at her sincerely, hoping the trepidation she feels is not obvious on her face. There are murmurs in the crowd as people begin to recognize her and her brother. Kara looks at her with surprise and curiosity, which urges Lena to continue.

“Miss Danvers,” Lena says after she clears her throat. She grabs on to the chair in front of her to ground herself. Her knuckles turn white as her nerves get to her. “Would it be possible to schedule a meeting for an exclusive interview upon your return?”

“Back-off, Luthor,” Lois hisses. The crowd snickers but Lena ignores them. Her eyes remain trained on Kara.

“Maybe over dinner? Or lunch, if that’s too much.”

“It depends,” Kara says curtly, and Lena can see that the sting of her rejection is still fresh. “I had tried to schedule one before, but certain people didn’t seem too keen on the idea.”

Lena nods, not breaking eye contact. She takes a deep breath.

“What if…that certain person realized that she was a big idiot? What if she was afraid, is still afraid, but she’s here to ask for your forgiveness and beg you to give her a chance?”

Kara bites her lip and searches Lena’s hopeful face.

“Please,” Lena whispers to herself, begging with her eyes. She can feel eyes in the room darting back and forth between them.

After what feels like an eternity, Kara softens and gives her a small smile. The small smile morphs into a big, bright grin and Lena finally exhales.

“Okay,” she says simply.

Lena feels the smile breaking on face.

“Okay?” She repeats, not believing her ears.

“Okay,” Kara confirms, nodding and smiling at Lena.

-

“Krypton, Krypton, this is Houston. Over.”

_“Good morning, Houston. This is Krypton.”_

“Roger, Krypton. Good morning.”

_“Got some great sleep. How’s everything looking up here from the ground?”_

“They’re looking great, and as far as we can tell, everything is good from down here. Over.”

_“Roger. Just a passing comment, Vasquez. We’re having breakfast right now and I just made myself a hot dog. Put ketchup on it. Very tasty and a criminal offense in the city of Chicago.”_

“That’s correct, Krypton. As I recall the flight plan, you’re supposed to put mustard on the hot dogs and not ketchup, but I guess we’ll overlook that.”

_“We blew it.”_

<Laughter>

“Roger. I wish I could do the same here.”

_“No. Don’t leave the console to eat! You gotta keep us company, Vasquez.”_

<Laughter>

“Don’t worry. I won’t”

_“Houston, Krypton.”_

“Go ahead, Krypton.”

_“Down in the control center you might want to join us in wishing Dr. Diana Prince a happy birthday.”_

“Roger. We are standing by for your birthday greetings.”

_“Today is also the birthday of the great state of California, and I believe she is 170 years old, and we wish to send the people of California a happy birthday. Although it’s the same day as Dr. Prince’s birthday, I don’t think she’s that old.”_

“Roger. We copy. I’m looking back in the viewing room right now. Dr. Prince sends her thanks.”

_“Excellent.”_

“She confirms she is not 170 years old.”

_< Laughter>_

_“Thank you. Tell her I posted a picture for her on my Instagram. It is a cake made of peanut butter, jelly, and a tortilla. Only the finest for our Director.”_

“Roger. Perhaps you can join the next season of the Bake-Off when you return next year.”

_“Houston, Cat Grant will probably find this masterpiece to be an abomination.”_

<Laughter>

_“Yep. She just confirmed it in a comment.”_

<More laughter>

“Sorry to hear that, Krypton.”

_“300 days to go, Houston.”_

“Did you update your calendar?”

_“You bet. Didn’t you hear? I’m taking a beautiful lady out on a date when I get back.”_

<Laughter>

“Roger that, Krypton.”

-

“Luthor! Hey, Luthor!”

Lena snaps her head away from the clear blue sky at the sound of Alex’s voice.

Clipboard in one hand and bat in another, Alex looks unimpressed.

“You’re up to bat. Stop mooning over that idiot in the sky.”

Lena scoffs, jogging past her and grabbing Kara’s bat out of her hands.

“I wasn’t mooning!”

“Of course. You weren’t.”

 


	4. Three point five

**EPILOGUE**

 

“Hi.”

Lena’s eyes focus slowly.

The sunrise is streaming into the room, framing Kara’s face like a halo. Her eyes are crinkly and she has a soft smile on her face. Her fingers trace Lena’s hairline and tuck the stray tendrils. The pads of her fingers linger on the skin behind Lena’s ear.

“Hi,” Lena manages, her voice thick with sleep. 

“I used to dream of this,” Kara says quietly. “Strapped in my bed, I’d dream of waking up next to you, with your hair in my face.”

Lena smiles, more awake now.

“I dreamt about you every night. Or day, I guess.”

Lena moves closer and raises an eyebrow.

“What were we doing in your dreams?” She asks with a devious smile. “Was it similar to last night?”

Kara laughs, her face reddening.

“Only sometimes,” She admits. Lena watches her impossibly blue eyes. She starts tracing patters up and down Kara’s arm. “Most of the time, I would dream silly things.”

“What silly things?”

Kara lies back down and closes her eyes.

“Waking up like this,” she smiles. “Making toast and eggs and then balancing plates while I walk out to the yard. You’re already drinking coffee, maybe sitting on a swing hanging from the tree. Our big lazy dog snoring by your feet.”

Lena lets out a soft laugh and resists the urge to kiss the silly woman next to her.

“But you don’t even notice me. You’re too busy explaining orbital physics to a little girl on your lap. There’s giggling when you crash land the Mars orbiter into her little belly.”

Lena’s hand stills and Kara looks over to her.

“I would dream of the life I hoped we’d have together.”

There’s silence and Kara watches her with hopeful eyes.

“Are we happy in your dreams?” Lena asks quietly, afraid to break the spell.

“More than I ever thought possible.”

Kara leans over to kiss away the doubts on Lena’s face. Her fingers traverse the skin down her side before resting on her hip, grounding Lena to this moment in time. Lena feels it in the kiss, feels Kara’s promises of a happy life.

“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. I’m not planning on ever leaving your side.”

“I think I can live with that.”


End file.
